Zephyr North’s experience in wind resource assessment began in 1980. We have carried out a wide variety of projects through the years including: field measurement and field experiment campaigns, provincial wind atlas and wind map generation, numerical modelling of wind flow in complex terrain, management of large arrays of wind monitoring stations, development of data processing software, wind farm design, and more.

Zephyr North has carried out successful project for a wide variety of clients: the Federal Government of Canada; the provincial governments of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia; the provincial electric utilities of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia; and an extensive of group of private clients listed below.

Zephyr North has worked from Vancouver Island to the eastern coast of Newfoundland, from Pelee Island to Alert. International projects have been completed in China, India, Trinidad, Jamaica, and Cuba.

A sampling of projects and clients is provided below.:

Data Collection and Analysis for an Array of Ten Wind Monitoring Stations in Ontario for Ontario Power Generation (2002 to present)

Zephyr North is currently collecting data for Ontario Power Generation from seven 50 m wind monitoring stations located throughout Ontario. Three additional stations are scheduled to come on-line in the near future. Data are received at Zephyr North in Burlington via cellular telephone transmission. They are immediately quality-analyzed by a technician who views every datum using a custom-written software suite. Any equipment or data transmission problems are reported back to OPG’s field contractor within approximately one day. The data are archived into Zephyr North’s fast-access binary archive. After each year of monitoring the data are be statistically analyzed for wind resource characteristics.

Data Collection and Analysis for an Extensive Wind Resource Monitoring Program in Alberta for Wind Power Inc. (2001 to 2002)

Zephyr North is currently collecting data for WPI for an extensive wind resource assessment program from 50 m wind monitoring stations located throughout Alberta. Data are received at Zephyr North’s office in Burlington via cellular telephone transmission. They are immediately quality-analyzed by a technician who views every datum using a custom-written software suite. Any equipment or data transmission problems are reported back to WPI within approximately one day. The data are archived into Zephyr North’s fast-access binary archive. After a year of monitoring the data will be statistically analyzed for wind resource characteristics. Monthly data summary tables and graphs are provided to WPI.

Zephyr North carried out a comprehensive analysis of the existing and historical wind measurement sites in southwestern Ontario. Archived data from 39 stations were obtained and quality-controlled specifically for wind resource analysis purposes. This included visits to the sites to assess the quality of the siting and to measure obstacles to the wind flow for use with the SHELCOR numerical model which corrected the data set for obstacle sheltering. The data were conditioned to neutralize binning biases in both speed and direction caused by historical data collection techniques. Data were also closely examined to identify missing blocks and systematic observing biases. A report summarized the findings and presented the most accurate and comprehensive analysis of wind energy resource in southwestern Ontario at that time. Several recommendations for further data analysis and wind monitoring programs were made.

Zephyr North obtained all the available data for remote communities for northern Québec for analysis for wind energy generation potential. The data were carefully processed using Zephyr North’s sophisticated quality-control and data enhancement techniques. The wind resource information was summarized and presented in a form suitable for siting studies for combined community wind-diesel power systems. These wind data were used in Zephyr North’s wind flow models to predict the wind generation potential for a large area surrounding each of the remote communities. The report produced in this study is now being used as the basis document for further Hydro-Québec investigation into wind resources for the remote portion of the province.

In this project Zephyr North designed a wind monitoring system for 11 sites (including an airport comparison site) for SaskPower, the Saskatchewan provincial electric utility. Six of the sites were candidates for a 3MW wind farm and were specified by SaskPower. Zephyr North chose the other four sites. At the 10 sites, Zephyr North collected wind speed data at 10, 20 and 30m, wind direction data at 30m and temperature at 1.5m from August of 1993 to August of 1994 (with two of the sites continuing to a later date). Zephyr North also received data on a monthly basis from several local Atmospheric Environment Stations. These were included in the project database. Data collection was via cellular phone transmission from eight of the stations and manual data-card collection from the other three. Monthly, quarterly and interim reports were issued which included up-to-date analysis of the data as they were required in a timely manner. A final report included a survey of historical wind data, analysis of the long-term vs monitoring period data, results of numerical modelling to determine the effects of complex terrain on the measured data and a synthesis of all data into a regional wind energy map.

In this project, Zephyr North carried out a comprehensive analysis of the existing and historical wind measurement sites in eastern Ontario. Archived data from 71 stations were obtained and quality-controlled specifically for wind resource analysis purposes. This included visits to the sites to assess the quality of the siting and to measure obstacles to the wind flow for use with the SHELCOR numerical model which corrected the data set for obstacle sheltering. The data were conditioned to neutralize binning biases in both speed and direction caused by historical data collection techniques. Data were also closely examined to identify missing blocks and systematic observing biases. A report summarized the findings and presented the most accurate and comprehensive analysis of wind energy resource in eastern Ontario to date. Several recommendations for further data analysis and wind monitoring programs were made.

This project was carried out under the Southwest Alberta Renewable Energy Initiative (SWAREI) sponsored by Alberta Energy. Zephyr North chose six sites for wind monitoring with a view to mapping the wind resource in the southwestern portion of the province. Two additional sites were installed in conjunction with the Atmospheric Environment Service. Wind speed and wind direction were monitored at 10m, with temperature recorded at 1.5m. Since a limited area was being studied, the data were collected in situ by a local technician using a lap-top computer to upload data from the datalogger. The project also encompassed analysis of the local historical wind data including analysis for effects due to obstacles modifying the flow at the anemometer, complex terrain effects and correlations with the long-term historical data. Regional maps of wind speed and wind power density were produced. The monitoring system for this study was designed and installed by Zephyr North with a local technician handling maintenance and data collection. A combination of Campbell Scientific datalogger and R.M. Young Wind Monitor, both highly regarded by Zephyr North as robust and accurate instruments resulted in wind data recoveries at the stations of 99.9, 99.9, 99.8, 99.7, 99.7, 99.6, 98.5, and 98.1% respectively.These recovery rates include down-time for all reasons including icing and regular maintenance.

Zephyr North designed the layout and calculated the estimated production for a 9.6 MW wind farm consisting of five 1.8 MW Vestas V80 wind turbines and one existing Tacke TW600 wind turbine for the Ontario Power Generation / British Energy Huron wind farm site in the Bruce county area of Ontario. The project included assessment and correlation of existing historical and near-site data (including historical production data from the Tacke turbine), determination of an optimized turbine layout taking into account road, forest, topography, housing, and noise constraints, and calculation of the estimated annual output of the wind farm. The wind farm has subsequently been built and is operational.

Zephyr North designed the layout and calculated the estimated production for a 5 MW wind farm consisting of eight 660 kW Vestas V47 wind turbines for the area adjacent to the Atlantic Wind Test Site at North Cape on the northwest tip of Prince Edward Island. The project included assessment of existing historical and on-site data, determination of an optimized turbine layout taking into account road, trail, environmental, swamp, housing, noise, and future expansion constraints, and calculation of the estimated annual output of the wind farm. The wind farm was subsequently permitted, constructed, and commissioned, and is now performing well. In addition, an expansion phase was designed and subsequently built.

40 MW Wind Farm Design for EPCOR

Zephyr North designed the layout and carried out AEP estimates for a 40 MW wind farm near Kingsbridge, Ontario. The design included turbine layout in a relatively crowded rural setting with a large number of noise receptors, factoring for a variety of setbacks and landowner requests, noise analysis and design to the recent Ontario Turbine Noise guidelines. This wind farm included 22 new 1.8 MW wind turbines along with a legacy 660 kW wind turbine. The project, Kingsbridge Wind Power Project, has been permitted and is presently under construction.

100 MW Wind Farm Design for AIM Powergen

Zephyr North carried out the historical wind analysis, on-site wind monitoring, correlation analysis, and wind farm design for a 99.5 MW wind farm on the north shore of Lake Erie near Port Burwell, Ontario. A total of 6 wind monitoring stations including one 80 m station were installed for the project. In addition a 90 m tower of opportunity was instrumented for wind measurements. Wind farm design included turbine placement in a long (20 km) wind farm following the shore of the lake. Constraints included a reasonably dense rural community of noise receptors, road setbacks, a stringent and variable shoreline setback due to severe shoreline erosion, a sensitive-species setback and lake corridor, designated wetland areas setback, landowners requests to minimize interference to the local agricultural practices, and a patchwork of available leased properties and wooded areas. AEP analysis was carried out for the wind farm layouts, along with extensive loss and uncertainty analysis. This wind farm has met its environmental assessment requirements, has been permitted, and is now under construction.

A Few of our Former and Present Clients:

Acres International

AIM Powergen

Alberta Energy

Algonquin Power Systems

American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers